prevented
by acrid secretions, the result of disease of the reproductive organs.
Leucorrheal matter may destroy the vitalizing power of the sperm-cells.
There are many ways, even after impregnation, of compromising the
existence of the frail embryo. Accidents, injuries, falls, blows, acute
diseases, insufficient nutrition and development, in fact, a great
variety of occurrences may destroy the life of the embryo, or foetus.
After birth, numerous diseases menace the child. By what constant care
must it ever be surrounded, and how often is it snatched from the very
jaws of death!

What, then, is man but simply a germ, evolving higher powers, and
destined for a purer and nobler existence! His latent life secretly
emerges from mysterious obscurity, is incarnated, and borne upon the
flowing stream of time to a spiritual destination--to realms of
immortality! As he nears those ever-blooming shores, the eye of faith,
illuminated by the inspired word, dimly discerns the perennial glories.
Quickened by Faith, Hope, and Love, his spirit is transplanted into the
garden of paradise, the Eden of happiness, redeemed, perfected, and made
glorious in the divine image of Him who hath said, "I am the Way, the
_Truth_, and the LIFE."

* * * * *

PART II.

HYGIENE.

CHAPTER I.

HYGIENE DEFINED.--PURE AIR.

The object of hygiene is the _preservation of health_. Hitherto, we have
considered, at some length, the science of functions, or _Physiology_,
and now, under the head of _Hygiene_, we will give an outline of the
means of maintaining the functional integrity of the system. It is
difficult to avoid including under this head Preventive Medicine, the
special province of which is to abate, remove, or destroy the many
causes of disease.

The Greeks bestowed divine honors upon Aesculapius, because he remedied
the evils of mankind and healed the sick. The word hygiene is derived
from Hygeia, the name of the Greek goddess of health. As male and female
are made one in wedlock, so Medicine and Hygiene, restoration and
preservation, are inseparably united.

Hygiene inculcates sanitary discipline, medicine, remedial discipline;
hygiene prescribes healthful agencies, medical theory and practice,
medicinal agencies; hygiene ministers with salubrious and salutary
agents, medicine assuages with rectifying properties and qualities;
hygiene upholds and sustains, medical practice corrects and heals;